The USS Indianapolis is the worst naval disaster in history. Only July 30, 1945 the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. The ship sank within 12 minutes. There were about 1,996 men were aboard the ship, 300 went down when the ship sank. The rest of the 900 men were left floating without food or lifeboats. The boat and about 316 men were spotted about four days later to be rescued. During the time of the boat being torpedoed no one knew the boat was missing.
The impact of the disaster shocked many people. A public announcement of the loss of the USS Indianapolis was delayed for about 2 weeks. They thought that if they waited it would be overshadowed in the news on the day when the Japanese surrender. There has been controversy on the fact that shorty after the Indianapolis was sunk, naval intelligence decoded a message from the I-58 to its headquarters in Japan that it had sunk an American battleship along the route of the Indianapolis but the message ignored.
The impact of the disaster shocked many people. A public announcement of the loss of the USS Indianapolis was delayed for about 2 weeks. They thought that if they waited it would be overshadowed in the news on the day when the Japanese surrender. There has been controversy on the fact that shorty after the Indianapolis was sunk, naval intelligence decoded a message from the I-58 to its headquarters in Japan that it had sunk an American battleship along the route of the Indianapolis but the message ignored.